The UK’s Big Food Group, which owns frozen food retailer Iceland, has said it has continued to make steady progress during the year, recording positive like-for-like sales growth for consecutive quarters for all the group’s operations.


The group said like-for-like sales for the third quarter to 26 December rose 2.0% compared to the year-ago period, with Iceland reporting like-for-like sales growth of 1.2%.


For the five weeks to 2 January, covering the lucrative Christmas period, group like-for-like sales rose 3.2%. Iceland’s like-for-like sales rose 1.9% over the same period.


“At Iceland, the customer driven promotional strategy has continued to show improvements with above average growth coming from the grocery and fresh produce categories as the new concept store strategy accelerates,” the group said in its trading statement.


A total of 26 Iceland stores were refurbished in the thirteen-week quarter bringing the total number of new concept stores to 119.

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The Big Food Group also announced that Iceland’s managing director, Mike Coupe, has decided to leave the company. Coupe, who has been with the Big Food Group for two years, is to continue as managing director until early September whilst a search for his successor takes place.

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